


Not Yet

by lbmisscharlie



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Gen, Suicide Attempt, devious plotting, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-18
Updated: 2012-01-18
Packaged: 2017-10-29 17:57:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lbmisscharlie/pseuds/lbmisscharlie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d hoped, for an instant, that it wouldn’t come to this. Moriarty in his hands and if he can only know the code, stop the snipers, they needn’t stand at the edge, needn’t fly, needn’t fall.</p><p>Spoilers for <i>The Reichenbach Fall</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Yet

_Not you_ , he shouts, _not yet_. It isn’t time, yet, there in that fog-choked hollow, there in his drug-choked mind. The pins aren’t yet lined up, the plans premature. John shoots, gun steady, loyal John beside him unawares.

He stands at the edge of the roof, bricks steady and air loose beneath his feet, and wills John to stop, to listen, to stay: the perfect witness, the perfect audience. A very necessary player after all.

He’d hoped, for an instant, that it wouldn’t come to this. Moriarty in his hands and if he can only know the code, stop the snipers, they needn’t stand at the edge, needn’t fly, needn’t fall.

 _Everyone_ , he says, _everyone_. Three gunmen for those three closest. And John, on his way, loyal John come to his rescue. John with a mark on his forehead and a bullet to the brain. The cab pulls up; John’s phone rings.

 _Not you_ , he thinks, _not yet_.

Moriarty dead and gone behind him, not crashing to the ground by his side, and the world is rid of its greatest plague. He needn’t fall, he needn’t die, not to save the world, no. Just to save his three. His three, among many, who care, who believe.

He says goodbye and takes a step and breaks it all. His body, his word, their bond.

He stands in the shadows, the crosses and stones and all the little evidences of mortal life scattered across the ground between them. Between him and John. His John, loyal John, standing next to an empty pile of dirt, and whispering, not raging.

His John, loyal John, broken. Pleading for a death undone. He wants to step forward, make his presence known, come back to life, but John can’t know. Only a few can hold his secret, but not the one whose faith is tested, unyielding.

 _Not you_ , he whispers, _not yet_. He turns up his collar and steps back, alone among the ghosts.

**Author's Note:**

> A quick reaction ficlet post-Reichenbach, based on the moment at the end of Hounds when Sherlock sees Moriarty. He shouts "not you" twice, but for some reason every time I hear it as "not you...not yet" which has a very different implication. Posted on tumblr first.


End file.
